Publisher's Summary

For the past five years, Steve Kamb has transformed himself from wannabe daydreamer into a real-life superhero and actually turned his life into a gigantic video game: flying stunt planes in New Zealand, gambling in a tuxedo at the Casino de Monte-Carlo, and even finding Nemo on the Great Barrier Reef. To help him accomplish all of these goals, he built a system that allowed him to complete quests, take on boss battles, earn experience points, and literally level up his life.

If you have always dreamed of adventure and growth but can't seem to leave your hobbit hole, Steve's book, Level Up Your Life, is for you. He will teach you exactly how to use your favorite video games, books, and movies as inspiration for adventure rather than as escapes from the grind of everyday life. Hundreds of thousands of everyday Joes and Jills have joined Steve's Rebellion through his popular website, NerdFitness.com, and leveled up their lives - losing weight, getting stronger, and living better.

In Level Up Your Life, you'll meet more than a dozen of these members of The Rebellion: men and women, young and old, single and married, from all walks of life, who have created superhero versions of themselves to live adventurously and happily. Within this guide, you'll follow in their footsteps and learn exactly how to:

I like the concept of gamifying my life and I found the book to be inspirational for that. I went on the website to create a character and I was definately stoked on that and wound up inputting a lot of goals and quests to accomplish. I liked the set up and the way it feels like an actual role playing game. After doing a few quests I looked at my character experience, and nothing changed; I was still at zero. Why? so... I dig a little deeper only to fimd out that in order for my character to recieve the experience points I earned, I have to buy an expensive subscription to the NerdFitness community. I immediately lost respect for the author and found another platform that is free, to gamify my life and now I am using it happily. If I purchased a book telling me how I can get started with improving my life, why is it assumed I have a bunch of cash on hand to throw at the subscription to a fitness community? Dissapointed that the book turns out to be a commercial for yet another "improve your life by doing this" product... Why is the purchase of the book and the time spent reading it not enough to earn this important subscription? Oh well at least it was a bridge to an alternative product that does similar things. sad I wasted my time inputting everything on the site though for no reason.

142 of 158 people found this review helpful

JESSE DURONA

30/03/16

Overall

Performance

Story

"A Ripoff of The Nerdist Way?"

If you've ever read "The Nerdist Way" by Chris Hardwick, then you've read this book. In many ways it actually feels like a ripoff. Kamb is entitled to write his own nerdy self-help book, but he uses many of the same ideas and pop culture references as Hardwick did in his 2011 work. Worse yet, Kamb's writing lacks any personality, while Hardwick comes off as a likable and funny guy.

Kamb passively cites Hardwick as a source of "inspiration" for this novel. Take from that what you will.

The narrator spoke with enthusiasm, but something in his tone made me feel like he was trying to sell me something. There was an air of disingenuousness about him, though that may have been more the tone of the book. Also: there are a few times two other performers narrate small parts of the book. These parts are very dry and don't match the tone at all.

Overall, this book felt contrived. It's worth a read if you didn't get enough of this idea from "The Nerdist Way," but be warned that it feels phony most of the time.

89 of 102 people found this review helpful

Amazon Customer

22/03/16

Overall

Performance

Story

"Entertaining but low value"

Any additional comments?

This book was a little bit disappointing. It is essentially a retelling of other ideas in a new clothing.In a oversimplified synopsis, the book teaches you (very superficially) how to gamefy your life by setting goals, using to do lists with score cards and makes everything Nerd friendly by introducing the ludic element of an alter-ego. I am not saying it is not interesting or fun, but it is not exactly new.

Also, the narrative of the book has this annoying vibe. It is a mix of a information (which is good) book, selling free e-book (which is bad, because I bought it, I do not want more propaganda in it) and cult mambojambo (the testimony of people that passed through the process, which I also think is bad, I felt like reading an evangelic passage).

The greatest value of the book in my opinion is making it Nerd friendly and ludic. It also reunite many nice ideas about goal setting, planning, scoring process and understanding the change process. But again, nothing I never saw before somewhere else.

If you are new to the self-help literature, this is an excellent book because it groups the best ideas in a simple and short book.

If you were never called geek, dork, or nerd in your life, this book is not for you.

32 of 39 people found this review helpful

David H. Van Loon

Waterford, MI United States

5/04/16

Overall

Performance

Story

"Mismatched Narration "

This is supposed to be a book for "nerds" but yet it's read by a guy with the stereotypical "Billy Badass" voice. Really poor choice of narrator that I never really got past. The book had some decent concepts and a few good take aways but was mostly a rehash of Executive Toughness with a video game twist. In my opinion this is really a book for people seriously stuck in life and not geared for people already actively improving their lives. Almost quit in this one due to over the top voice guy but gutted it out just to make sure a didn't miss anything. I didn't.

27 of 33 people found this review helpful

David

20/08/16

Overall

Performance

Story

"Perfect...for some people"

This book is love it or hate it. Comparing your life to a video game or movie and using lessons to improve yourself makes sense to me so I loved the book. But I can see where others will find this book ridiculous. Know what you're getting into. The descriptions on most website are accurate, and the book is spot on with those.

10 of 12 people found this review helpful

David

17/09/16

Overall

Performance

Story

"for dorks and nerds only."

very very nerdy. some decent insights. the video game concept is an interesting way of framing the "improve your life" pursuit.terribly dorky voice work.would be good for a direction-less, 20 something nerdy guy (maybe a nerdy girl too)... but if that's not you, you'll probably not enjoy it.

16 of 23 people found this review helpful

Dale Roberts

Glendale, AZ

4/05/16

Overall

Performance

Story

"Steve Kamb is Brilliant in "Level Up Your Life""

What made the experience of listening to Level Up Your Life the most enjoyable?

I enjoyed the variety of voiceover talent in this production. It spiced up the production and kept me engaged from beginning to end.

Who was your favorite character and why?

This book isn't fictional, so I couldn't give you a "character" I liked best. Steve Kamb writes in a relatable and friendly style that made me feel at ease with my nerdy ways and random trivia on comic books, video games and popular movies.

What does the narrators bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

See the first question's answer...

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Every "rebel" shared an inspiring and insightful look into their struggles prior to joining the "rebellion" and Steve Kamb's online inner circle at Nerd Fitness.

Any additional comments?

Don't be confused, this is NOT a workout book. For a few weeks, I hestitated in listening to this book because I wrongly assumed it was simply a fitness book. I'd categorize this book as the nerd's guide to becoming greater by the day - sort of inspiration and motivational in its content.

11 of 17 people found this review helpful

Arel Avellino

27/03/16

Overall

Performance

Story

"My goals have been given a new look!"

I love Steve's approach to gamifying his goals. It is the way I have always looked at my goals, but I have never felt I had permission to take my gamification process as far as Steve has gone in this book.

4 of 6 people found this review helpful

Kenny Desrochers

16/03/16

Overall

Performance

Story

"A must buy"

This book is really easy to listen to. It's got a lot of nerd quotes and humour which makes it a great listening experience for any geeks who want to better their lives in any way.

7 of 12 people found this review helpful

Chris Meredith

16/04/16

Overall

Performance

Story

"Brilliant!"

This book is awesome! a great way to look at life as an adventure where you don't have to be perfect -you just focus on getting better

6 of 11 people found this review helpful

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